Barber-Colman Factory Facade, Rockford, Illinois

The Barber-Colman Company operated out of Rockford, Illinois, from its founding in 1894 by W.A. Barber and Howard Colman. The firm built its reputation on textile machinery before expanding into industrial controls, gear-cutting equipment, and door-operating systems used in buildings across the country. Its sprawling Rockford campus grew through the early 20th century into a complex of brick-and-concrete factory buildings typical of the era's heavy manufacturing plants. Production at the site wound down in the late 20th century as the company's divisions were sold off, and much of the original campus has sat vacant or partially demolished since. Rockford's broader industrial decline through the 1980s and '90s left several such factory buildings empty, their steel-sash windows and load-bearing brick shells now marking the city's manufacturing past.

Photo taken in February 2024.